Meetings in a kitchen
by fmd-jade
Summary: UPDATED! "Daniel, thank God, where the hell are you?"- "Why, what's your situation?" - "I'm hiding, what's yours?" Just some S/J, team thing, that came to my mind.
1. Chapter 1

**I should be doing a HUNDRED other things at the moment, but when the muse kisses me, who am I to argue….**

**Spoilers: None**

**Season: post Season 10 and 4 of Atlantis**

**Pairings: well, S/J mainly… some other's might be mentioned… **

**Disclaimer: Nope… nada…niente…njet…nöö…**

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Sam peered out of the kitchen window into the backyard, where Jack talked to the other assembled guests when her cell phone rang. She hastily took it, before the sound of it could carry outside through the open window.

"Hello?" Another quick glance out the window, just to be sure.

"_Sam? Why are you whispering?"_

"Thank God, Daniel", she let out a relieved sigh, "where the _hell _are you?"

"_Why, what's your situation?"_

"I'm hiding, what's yours?!"

Daniel chortled very unattractively into the phone. _"Don't worry; we'll be there in five."_

"Make that two, would you?"

Daniel laughed again and hung up.

Sam tried to steady her breath. Don't worry. Everything will be fine. It will turn out okay. _Yeah right._ She made her way over to the fridge to get another soda. She then glanced at the clock again. How slowly could Daniel possibly be driving? She would make sure Vala passed her license test the next time. Loud laughter was heard outside and she resumed her post by the window, bent over the work surface.

Daniel cleared his throat behind her.

"Finally. What took you so long?" She got back to shovelling cookies from a backing tray onto a plate so as not to seem suspicious. Somewhat _desperately, _Daniel went over next to her and risked a glance out the window himself. Vala and Cassie, whom he had picked up, made their round to greet various people.

"Sooo, wanna tell me what's up?!"

Sam laid the spatula down roughly.

"Jack's mother hates me."

Daniel chuckled which earned him a blow against the shoulder.

"I'm not kidding here, Daniel, she loathes me."

"Now come on, Sam. Abigail O'Neill may be a bit eccentric, where do you think Jack got that from, but she's a nice old lady."

Daniel", Sam stabbed her finger into his chest, to emphasise her point, "I'll tell you, she is anything but old and nice. She is _vicious_. Do you remember the blue glasses you got me for my birthday ages ago?"

_Ages ago_ would explain why he couldn't remember them. "Barely."

"Jack got her something to drink in one of those at lunch. And she was like 'Oh Jonathan, are these adorable little glasses yours?' And he said I brought them along when I moved in to which she just said 'Yeah, I knew I taught you better taste than this.' Can you believe that? They're just glasses for freaking out loud!"

Daniel didn't know what he could think of anymore to refrain from laughing. Jack was right. Sam really was cute when she got angry. But he had enough instinct of self preservation NOT to mention this to Sam's face. Or Jack's for that matter.

Sam stood before him, arms crossed and eyebrows raised and waited for an answer. He placatingly laid his hands on her upper arms.

"Sam. Don't you think you're exaggerating just a bit? You are just nervous."

"Daniel. Don't tell me these are just nerves. She even seemed to stop chewing mid-bite when she learned I made the salad." She looked out the window again morosely. The archaeologist felt somewhat sorry for her. Jack's mother had always found him charming, so he couldn't really complain.

Just then said woman walked into the house and spotted them behind the kitchen counter. Sam had a fake smile on, as soon as she noticed her.

"Daniel, there you are, my dear boy. What are you doing in here? Come over here and greet me properly!" Daniel hurried over to her, while Sam stared daggers into his back. _My dear boy?_

Mrs. O'Neill slung her arms around him as soon as he was near, although he'd just intended to shake her hand. "Mrs O'Neill, god to see you. How are you?"

"Now now, Daniel. How often have I told you to call me Abby or Mum, if you want. Now I have to freshen up a bit, but I'll see you outside in a few, yes?" Daniel just nodded meekly.

When she had passed the corner and the door to the bathroom was shut, he gave Sam a sympathetic look and held out his arms in a 'what?'-gesture.

"Daniel. She _never ever _offered me to call her anything but Mrs. O'Neill. And I'm married to her freaking son, for God's sake!"

He could just watch on as Sam stormed out onto the porch with the cookies. _Oh boy._


	2. Chapter 2

„Oh, hi there! ", Vala smiled at Cassie who stood at the workspace beneath the window, chopping tomatoes. _More like massacring tomatoes_, Vala thought to herself as she got new hotdogs from the fridge, just as Teal'c had asked her to.

"Wow." She took a step nearer towards the poor vegetables. "You sure have some anger management issues."

"What?" Cassie looked startled, like she hadn't noticed the other alien woman until just now.

"Oh, I just commented on your chopping skills. Any passive aggressiveness you want to talk about?" Cassie took a look at her work.

"Oh. Sorry. I was… well… distracted." Her head spun back around towards the window, as she heard really loud laughter coming from a group not far away. Vala peered outside as well, but all she could see was Cam entertaining a few fellows from the SGC. Just then Major Julie Something something (Vala had never really bothered to learn the names of her fellow _female _colleagues) laughed again. Very loudly.

"She sure has an obnoxious laugh." She commented and glanced at Cassie again. The knuckles holding the knife had turned white and she had a stony expression.

"That", her knife impacted harshly with the next tomato, "little", another bash at the tomato, "jerk!" There, she had done it. No one in his right mind would eat _that_ tomato now. "I can't believe he's doing this. _Right here!_ Doesn't he have any... any…_decency?_" She banged the knife down and made a grab for Vala's wine glass, taking a mouthful.

Vala looked out the window again. "Cassie sweety, did I miss anything?"

"Huh? Oh, no, well… not really, I guess."

Vala took a closer look at the group next to the window, the one with Cam and the laughing cow. There! She saw it! Just as Julie had to let loose another one of her hyena-like laughs, she spotted the source of Cassie's enragement. A cute Captain (Was it Cpt. Meyer?) stood next to Julie, laughing along with her and trying to touch her whenever possible. Vala recognized him as the same young man who hadn't left Cassie's side one hour earlier, getting her something to drink and to eat and just incessantly being *there*. Although Cassie hadn't seemed to enjoy his presence earlier in the afternoon, her opinion had obviously changed. He was tall, blonde and muscular, nothing spectacular and certainly nothing to get that bitchy about. But who was she to judge here, she found _Daniel_ sexy…

Vala wrapped an arm around the younger woman's shoulder.

"Don't worry, Cassie. You are young. Feelings change all the time. You are head-over-heels one minute and can't stand to just see him the next. And just the bare thought of his claw like hands and his _morning breath_… that is actually the worst. But never forget, no matter how many diamonds he steal-… *organizes* for you, or how many Drazi credits he bets on a class IV battle cruiser for you, all that matters in the end is, if he is willing to let you fly his Oredan fighter schooner and trusts you enough not to sell it to his step-brother." She smiled at Cassie, pushed her sunglasses back down on her nose, got the hotdogs and made her way outside.

Cassie shot her a last incredulous look. "Thanks… I guess."


	3. Chapter 3

Jack nestled up against Sam's back, as she washed a salad bowl in the kitchen sink. His chin rested on her shoulder as he lightly kissed her neck. Sam smiled and leaned even more into him.

"Sam… you don't have to clean that now. The boys have volunteered to do the dishes tonight."

"Yeah right, _volunteered._ Besides I need that for the noodle salad later on."

"C'mere", he wrapped his arms more tightly around her and she laid her hands on the arm encircling her shoulders from behind.

"You also don't have to hide in the kitchen the whole day. It's my birthday, you know. I can decide whatever I want today. And I declare it the 'wives-out-of-the-kitchen-day'."

"I'm not hiding in the kitchen!" Sam mock declared.

"Yeahsureyabetcha." He nuzzled her neck again.

"I'll have you know that we Carters don't hide from anything." She half-heartedly added. The things this man did to her… wonderful.

"Yeah? How about _anyone_? ….. My mother perhaps?" A non-committal grunt was his only answer as Sam made her way over to the counter and hauled herself up to sit next to the fridge. Jack came to stand between her knees.

"Is it really that bad?"

"Is it really that obvious? Jack, your mother _hates_ me!" He placed his hands either side of her head so she had to look him in the eye. "Sam. My mother doesn't hate you."

"Does too." She pouted.

"Arrgh… Sam. She may seem a bit distant", Sam heaved an exasperated sigh, "which she is _not._ And she will love you once you two get to know each other better."

His wife leaned her head on his shoulder while he moved is hands to rub her back.

"Funny, you know. Sara always said my Mum would loathe her, too." Sam's head shut up and she raised her eyebrows. _Did you have to mention your ex-wife?_ He shot her a pleading look in return. _She IS the mother of my dead child, _to which Sam laid her head back down on his shoulder.

"Does it really matter so much?"

Sam shrugged. "I guess not."

"Sam, look at me", he tilted her chin with his right hand, the other one on her hip. "Everybody loves you. As soon as people get to know you, they can't help but like you. And once you so much as smile at them, they fall in love with you. You see all these people out there?" he indicated to the window, "that's only part of the Sam-Carter-fan club."

Sam couldn't help but smile embarrassedly. "There's a fan club?"

"Yep. Everybody's in it. Even some girls from the base." She swatted his arm at this. "Siler is chairman and I think Rothman is treasurer. Only Felger, well, he got kicked out, 'cause, you know, he got a bit obsessive." Sam chuckled.

"And you?" She laid her hands around is neck, drawing him nearer.

"Me? Well, I got kicked out too, y'know, cause I had some exceptional advantages and unequal deeper insight at some point."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Now you see what I had to compete to all these years."

"Poor boy." Their lips were mere millimetres apart.

"Are you trying to be cute?"

Sam cracked a grin. "Does it work?"

"Kind of." Their lips met softly and Jack's arms circled her waist, leaning in to her, savouring the feel of her lips. But he couldn't start anything he couldn't finish now. Shame.

"I'm sorry, by the way." He retreated his head a bit to take a better look at her. And to regain control of other parts of his body.

"What for?"

"That I couldn't un-invite my Mum, once she had invited herself to my birthday party."

"Jack, she is your mother. Don't you dare!" Sam exclaimed.

"Yeah, but I knew what problems this would cause. I'm sorry, okay."

Sam's one hand played with his collar, the second busied itself with the hair at the nape of his neck.

She smiled mischievously at him. "How sorry?"

"My my, Mrs O'Neill, you're insatiable." He attached his lips to her neck once more.

"Say that again."

"What? That you're insatiable…?" He grinned at her.

"Nooo…"

"Mrs O'Neill…" He huskily muttered before he kissed her again, more passionately and both tried to get as close as possible to each other. This time he didn't care if the whole world witnessed.

Except somebody did seem to care.

"Eew, get a room you two!" They broke apart regretfully. Jack with a twinkle in his eyes and Sam with a glow on her face. They both turned around, but kept their arms around each other. Cassie just shrugged her head.

"You two are worse than teenagers."

"Says the girl who spent hours on the front porch with her boyfriends." Jack countered.

"It wouldn't have had to be the front porch, if you hadn't scared all of them to death." The older man chuckled at that fond memory. "Yeah, well… let's not dwell."

Cassie helped herself to some beer in the fridge. "You want one?" Both adults nodded.


	4. Chapter 4

**It's funny you know. When you are the busiest person**** in the world, at least it seems like this to you, you can barely keep from thinking of these ideas you had for your new story. But as soon as the finals are over and done with (TODAY!!! YAY!!!) for this semester and you have all the time in the world, you don't know what to write. Seriously. Has anybody ever thought of that?**

**Anyway, I hope you like it. Don't hesitate to review. No, seriously, just go ahead!**

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"No, over there Teal'c, behind the spare ribs, in the blue Tupper box", Daniel instructed his friend. Teal'c emerged from the depths of the fridge, various dishes, bowls and containers in his hands. "Hold this, Daniel Jackson." He handed his load over to Daniel whose hands were not quite as large and had their problems with the enormous amount of food. Teal'c stuck his head back into the fridge, while Daniel struggled to balance the strawberries on top of the cheese snacks.

"Careful there, or you might drop the zabaione", a stern voice told him from the door. Teal'c quickly dove out of the fridge, closed said door and leaned casually against it. Well… as casually as Teal'c _could_ lean against a fridge. Daniel therefore looked like the kid caught with his hands in the cookie jar, which was quite amusing.

"My God, Cassie! You nearly gave me a heart attack. Thought you were Sam there for a second."

The young woman just snickered from her place in the doorway. "Just 'cause you know Sam's gonna have your asses kicked if you so much as glance at the mouse aux chocolat in the wrong way. And stealing it out of the fridge?! Definitely kick-worthy."

Once Daniel had rid himself of the various containers, he pointed a finger at Teal'c defensively. "You must know it was his idea." Teal'c merely raised an eyebrow and cocked his head.

"That is most incorrect, Daniel Jackson."

-"Oh! Hey!" Cameron had just literally dodged in from the porch and almost knocked Cassie over in the doorway. He did a surprised survey of the kitchen. "Didn't see you there! You okay?" he asked with a last steadying hand on her shoulders. Cassie just nodded and made an unidentifiable face in his direction. Cam seemed to be a bit out of breath.

"You okay, Mitchell? Is flirting in the sun all afternoon getting to you? You seem a bit bothered over there." Daniel asked.

"Me?! No no, I'm fine, really, I'm fine. Me, bothered?! No. No, really. I'm fine. Everything's fine." All three occupants of the kitchen shot him a look.

"O-kay." The archaeologist said tentatively.

"Well, actually, I'm looking for the steak pincers. The Gener-… _Jack_ needs them."

Teal'c straightened up. "O'Neill is about to grill? I will assist him." He bowed lightly and left the room.

"Yeah, well, good idea… I mean, if we want anything but charred meat…" Cameron was still quite edgy and nervous. "I'll help too." With a last quick glance thrown in Daniel's and Cassie's direction, he followed the tall man outside.

Together Cassie and Daniel moved over to the window to watch as Teal'c took over command at the barbecue rather vehemently with a threatening glare and Cameron just hovered beside him, swaying on his toes.

"Weird", Daniel commented.

"Ya think?" Daniel shot Cassie a look.

"You know, maybe he was a bit intimidated." Cassie frowned at this, so Daniel elaborated. "By you."

Cassie just laughed. "Okay Daniel, you got me, I'll bite. Why would he be intimidated by me?"

Daniel gestured around vaguely with his hand. "Well, you know… because your clothes or lack thereof, attract… attention." There, he had said it.

"Woah woah woah. Stop right there, Daniel. What is that supposed to mean?"

"Just that you're… actually…" He stammered around with the words.

"Daniel, seriously. Just say what you have to say to salve your uncle-ly conscience, so we can bring an end to what I sense to become the most uncomfortable conversation we ever had."

They both still watched the people outside.

Jack was animatedly talking at Teal'c while the later stoically observed the grill. Sam and Vala were lounging in a few deck chairs together with a bunch of other women, grinning and laughing at a small football game taking place under the supervision of one Cameron Mitchell. Cassie loved her family. Her imperfect, torn, hilarious, inhomogeneous family.

"Yourskirtistooshortandyourtoptoorevealing." Pooh. He drowned that outburst with a gulp from his soda.

Cassie just smiled and patted Daniel on the shoulder. "Glad we got that covered. By the way, Danny, I know you're all sharing this uncle-thing, but Jack is _much_ better at pep-talks. Much more intimidating, with even less words. So, that base is covered. Has been since I was fifteen and had my first date, actually."

Daniel sent her a look somewhere between annoyed and abashed, but Cassie just hugged him with one arm around his waist. Jack noticed them in the kitchen window and called for Daniel to come outside and help him with something important.

"What am I for, then?" he asked, as he made his way over to the back door.

"You, Daniel", she stated dramatically, "are for the greater insight and comprehension of life."

Her honorary uncle just snorted before he stepped out into the afternoon sun and Cassie couldn't help but grin to herself, busying herself with moving all the Tupper containers back into the fridge. Maybe she could nick a spoonful of mouse aux chocolat on the way.

But she actually never got that far.

"Greater insight and comprehension of life? Isn't that what parents are for, Cassandra?"


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry, I know, it's been a while, but my muse has been a pain in the mik'ta-**

**Thanks so much for all your reviews and ****especially Nyx Ro!!! **

**Thank you for lending me a hand with the finer details of the English language! ;) And don't worry about Cassie, she's totally normal and emancipated, there actually is a plan here that will be revealed… soon… probably ****in the next chapter ******** And Daniel blaming something on someone else?! Just saw that in a rerun yesterday! It was the episode with the bracelets (you know, the one with a certain FORCEFIELD…), or the one before that, actually.**

**Thanks for still reading and the reviews I **_**know **_**you all want to make. Personally I always have a problem with writers saying 'review if you want an update' 'cause that's just childish and I will never ever tolerate something like that, but now that I'm writing myself I have to confess, reviews **_**do**_** make my day!**

**Enjoy…**

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Cassie turned around to see Jack's Mum coming from the bathroom. Daniel was already out the door.

"Mrs. O'Neill, hi", she said uneasily. Daniel was long gone by now and no help to her.

"Hello Cassandra. I don't think we had the chance to talk to each other yet." Mrs. O'Neill stepped further into the kitchen and just like Daniel and Cassie had done minutes earlier, stood by the window, watching the people. Cassie didn't know what she was supposed to say. Was she under scrutiny here?

"You are Jack's god-daughter, no?"

Cassie shot her a wary glance. "Kind of. Sam was my guardian after my mother passed away and Jack, Daniel and Teal'c are like uncles to me."

Mrs. O'Neill nodded, apparently deep in thought. "I see." Cassie frowned. What the hell _did_ she see?

"Did you notice that there are several young men watching you this afternoon?"

"Actually, I didn't." She had been too busy concentrating on _one _particular man who'd been staring at her all day.

"I see."

_What?_ "What?" Cassie was beyond disbelief by now. Mrs. O'Neill turned towards her, one eyebrow raised, but she apparently chose to ignore her.

"What is it again you're doing? Jack mentioned it to me, but you have to forgive an old woman, I already forgot again." Old my ass, Cassie thought. Was this some kind of interrogation tactic? Randomly changing the subject until the suspect confessed? She seemed to have passed it on to Jack.

"I'm doing a doctorate in International Relations at the moment."

"What do you want to do with it?"

"Well, I do have plans." Which I can't tell you about as they involve the Stargate and a city in another universe. "I'd like to make a difference."

"It's a nice liberal idea. But, like most nice liberal ideas, naive. Has nobody ever told you that?"

„If you're not a liberal at twenty you have no heart. " Cassie countered.

„Churchill. Not bad, Miss Fraiser. But if I'm not mistaken he also said: ‚If you are still a liberal at thirty, you've got no brain.' Good thing, that you're right in between."

„I'm neither fatuous nor guileless, Mrs O'Neill. We spend our whole life trying to stop death. Eating, inventing, loving, praying, fighting, killing. But what do we really know about death? Just that nobody comes back. Trust me, I know about that one. So I don't think you should be so quick on judging me when I try to do something worth living for instead of worth dying for! "Cassie had gotten into a defensive stance.

„Personally I'm always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught. "

„How can you be so insensitive? Your own son works everyday to ensure-" Cassie had to stop herself before she said something she wasn't supposed to. But Abby O'Neill seemed to get the drift.

„The price of greatness is responsibility. And as some kind of uncle in your life, Jonathan should have taken the responsibility to ensure you chose the right thing for your future, as his wife was clearly unable to."

„Excuse me?! You are inconsiderate."

„And I believe, Cassandra, you are a bit tipsy."

„Yes, but in the morning, I will be sober."

„CASSIE!"

Both women spun round to see Sam in the door jamb. She had an angry look all over her face.

„Cassie, you better step outside", Sam said in a restrained voice.

„But-"

„NOW, Cassie." Her voice had gone from reserved to commanding and the look Sam shot Cassie left no room for discussion. Cassie gave Mrs O'Neill one last incredulous glance before she marched outside, slamming the back door on her way.

Sam took a deep breath before she schooled her features again. „Mrs O'Neill, whatever problem you might have with me is between us and has nothing to do with Cassie. You want to take someone on, pick me. But leave her out of this."

Sam's mother-in-law seemed surprised. „You are no going to apologize for her?"

Sam wasn't sure what to say but decided the truth was the best way. „No, I'm not. Cassie is old enough. And there's nothing I should feel sorry for."

„Good. That's good." Was that praise? „I got the impression today that everyone here is a bit in love with you. And no matter whom I talked to today, they all said how lucky I was to have you as my daughter-in-law. Kind of ironic seeing that I never knew you existed until Jonathan called me six months ago to tell me he got married."

„I'm sorry about that."

„Don't apologize. It's a sign of weakness."

Sam remained silent. She honestly didn't know what to say. But apparently she didn't have to say anything.

„So today, I heard all the praise these people have to offer for you. Do you know what the best way to keep a secret is?" Sam shook her head. „Keep it to yourself. The second best is to tell one other person. And I'm telling you that it is not easy to trust someone everybody seems to know so much about and still like. But I learned more about you from my brief encounter with Cassie than from all the people I talked to today. For you seem not only to have passed on your liking for short skirts and revealing tops." She said with a look at Sam's more exposed body parts.

Sam was taken aback. Just what did this woman want from her?!

"Mrs O'Neill, I'm sorry if-"

"As I told you", the older woman interrupted Sam forcefully, "apologies are a sign of weakness. Leave it." Sam had had enough.

"No, you leave it. The whole day I try to impress you, I wanted you to like me or at least not hate me. But nothing I do seems to be enough. I know I'm far away from being the perfect housewife. Hell, I feel more comfortable swinging around a P-90 than a wooden spoon. I talk to my plants but that doesn't keep them from dying. But I'm pretty good at doing my job. I love my job. I'm loyal to my friends; I'd do everything for them. And most importantly: I love Jack. That's what should count for you. I even love him enough to tell off his mother and tell her he hates being called 'Jonathan'. And let me tell you one thing: Apologizing is never a sign of weakness. It's a sign of strength and respect." She had talked herself into quite some rant and let out a deep breath now that she was done.

Mrs. O'Neil seemed to be unfazed and continued talking as if Sam had never interrupted her. "As I said, you seem not only to have passed on your liking for short skirts and revealing tops but also your strong beliefs and morals." She let that sink in a minute before continuing. "We may disagree, or even fight, but I would rather have someone oppose me out of an honest belief in the rightness of his cause than someone who is always on my side because it was expected and required. I already had that with a daughter-in-law."

Sam seemed to get it. "You mean…"

"I mean, that you seemed too good to be true for my stubborn and brick-headed example of a son. A woman everybody loves?! What are you? A 30 year old kindergarten teacher named Marybeth?"

"Oh believe me, there are enough people out there who don't like me. I could introduce you." Sam felt safe enough to voice that as she took a more comfortable place lent against the counter.

"You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life. I don't know what my son did to deserve someone everyone else looks with awe upon, who appears unconcernedly indifferent to money, rank, or even power and fame, but I am glad."

Mrs O'Neill resumed her watch out the window, while Sam stood there speechless. She opened her mouth to say something but nothing came to her mind so she closed it again. Abby O'Neill sure was one nut to crack, she thought as she watched the woman with a new respect. Abigail O'Neill turned away from the window, patted Sam in the shoulder, turned and made her way over to the door. Before she was out of the kitchen, she turned around.

"A very wise man we both know told me that understanding is a three-edged sword. He seemed to be right after all."

"Mrs O'Neill", Sam called after her. The older woman turned back around. "Who told you that?"

Mrs O'Neill smiled. "Your friend Mr Teal'c. And please Sam, call me Mum. Or Abby, if you prefer." And with that, she left Sam alone to wonder.

* * *

**That one was actually a bit difficult. I liked the idea of Cassie and Jack's mother fighting, but it was hard to find a reason. But now that the way has been ****cleared updates will come more quickly again. There are chapters already written, waiting for their place in the storyline…**

**I apologize again at this point. I know I had this chapter already posted but then I didn't like Sam's passiveness in the conversation and change that a bit. And just between us, I'm glad I got that aspect of the story done with. Tell me, if you liked it!**


	6. Chapter 6

**I don'****t get anything else done anyway while I think about this, so I might as well write on!**

"Hey Jack, what are you doing?" Daniel leaned against the door jamb leading into the kitchen and watched Jack as he rummaged through several drawers.

"Searching for the steak pincers, you know. Have you seen them?"

"No, but maybe you should ask Sam, she spends an awful lot of time in the kitchen today."

Jack snorted, but seemed to give up on his search.

"Is something up, Daniel?" He now noticed how reserved his friend was. Or was it nervousness? Daniel moved further into the kitchen and leaned against the counter.

"No no, I just wanted to wish you 'Happy Birthday' again." He handed Jack a wrapped present. A large, rectangular, flat, wrapped present.

"Daniel, I told you guys not to get me anything, I already have everything I could wish for."

"Jack, just open it, please." Jack shrugged, put his beer aside and grabbed the package with both hands, shaking it a little. He then tried to feel what was inside.

"Would you just open it God dammit!?" Daniel exclaimed.

"Ooookay, nothing to get too excited about. Besides, you already know what's inside." He started tearing the paper off. "And it's definitely not the size of a new game for my….." He paused as he saw the content, "…Xbox…." He finished very silently. Both he and Daniel remained silent. The former out of awe and admiration, the second out of respect for the moment. The tension in the room suddenly shifted from carefree hustle to something else Daniel couldn't decipher. All noise seemed to have come to a stop; all movement seemed hesitant so as not to break the sudden tranquillity and peace that had settled upon the two men. The noises from the people out in the garden seemed miles away.

Jack placed present carefully on the counter, leaning it against the wall and just studied it calmly. Shortly afterwards he turned towards his best friend.

"Thank you." His voice was still quiet and Daniel couldn't remember a time when Jack had been more sincere. Daniel just nodded and smiled contentedly. Together they turned towards the framed picture.

It showed Sam in Minnesota. The photo was taken from up-close, showing her profile as she sat on the dock, the blanket she was wrapped in just barely visible at the bottom of the frame. You could make out the lake and the cabin in the background. Her eyes were set on the lake and it seemed like she hadn't noticed that Daniel had taken a photo of her this very moment. But the most awe-inspiring thing was the sun rising behind the trees behind her, the early morning rays just illuminating the outlines of her face. A small smile played on her lips and she had a most calm and serene look on her face. It was breathtakingly beautiful.

Jack was the first to break the silence. But he spoke so gently, Daniel almost missed it.

"Sometimes…. I think that she does not walk the same world you and I walk in. In her world we are better than we are; we care more than we care. And then I think of how much I don't deserve her. That she's too good to me. But only a moment later she smiles at me, and that smile puts all my worries aside and I don't care anymore, because I love her so damn much that selfish as I am, I want to keep her to myself, no matter what the universe thinks of it…."

Daniel knew he wasn't really required to answer so he didn't. It was a rare moment of openness.

"So, I can only conclude that you're paying off karma at a vastly accelerated rate", Daniel finally stated. They both laughed, the mood returned to it's normal flimsy state and Jack patted him on the shoulder. Their equivalent of a guy hug if the world wasn't about to end.

"Happy Birthday, Jack."

"Thanks."

"Hmhm", somebody cleared their throat behind them. "Daniel, dear, I think a certain woman is in need of your attention in the backyard."

Daniel looked between Jack and his mother. Anybody less educated in the fine language of Jack O'Neill's body language wouldn't have seen his internal wince, but Daniel didn't miss it. He shot his friend a last sympathetic glance before he left the two of them alone.

Jack got a new beer out of the fridge. "There isn't anybody requiring Daniel's attention, is there?"

"No."

"Yeah, thought so."


End file.
